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The Nonreciprocating Robot: Effects on Verbal Discourse, Social Play, and Social Referencing at Two Years of Age
Author(s) -
Dunham Philip,
Dunham Frances,
Tran Simone,
Akhtar Nameera
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1991.tb01620.x
Subject(s) - psychology , nonverbal communication , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , linguistics , philosophy
2‐year‐old children interacted with a robot in a large playroom while their mother sat quietly in the corner. Identical vocalizations from the robot had very different effects on 3 dimensions of the children's behavior when the vocalizations were embedded in reciprocating and nonreciprocating social structures. The reciprocating robot produced (1) more topic‐maintaining verbal dialogue, (2) less physical and more linguistically mediated social play, and (3) gender‐specific effects on the children's tendency to visually reference their mother during the play session. The data are discussed with reference to the frequently encountered assumption that reciprocal social structures have an impact on children's behavior when the quantity and other qualitative dimensions of social stimulation are held constant, and with reference to the children's attributions about the robot as a social partner.